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The Diplomatic Lodge
Category:Office Initiatives of The Philosophy House }} |} Political and Legal Status The Diplomatic Lodge is officially recognized by The Philosophy House as the "corporate entity" of their Foreign Relations Office. The Philosophy House does not see itself as the founder of an alliance, or the leader of an association in their ownership of the Lodge. However, their government's exclusive right to assert their ownership of the Diplomatic Lodge is enshrined within their Constitution, claiming it to be an extension of their Foreign Relations Office. The Duty of the Host The Diplomatic Lodge is the office which provides foreign aid to the allies of Host The Philosophy House. It solely belongs to, and is run, maintained and sponsored by The Philosophy House government. Officially its agenda in doing such is to bring all nations with governments interested in nurturing philosophy talents amongst its people under a common umbrella. Members of the Lodge become "protectorates" of Host The Philosophy House. However, this "protectorate" status is at best an imprecise description of the relation between the Lodge Resident/Guest and the Host. The member of the Lodge will always retain total control of its independence and has absolute control over its financial and military assets. The member hence is an independent sovereign, and can be considered to be no different from which otherwise non-membership would have on its rights. However, the key difference is that now the member will be a diplomatic ally of the Host, and the Host shall be obliged to secure financial and military aid, as required and is allowable, to unconditionally defend and to maintain the freedom of the member nation, as well as to encourage it's pursuit of policies targeted to raise interest in philosophy among its people. Any attack on The Philosophy House by an aggressor, or any of the members of the Lodge, shall be isolated and diplomatically contained, being that the Lodge as a whole has no duty to absolutely rise to defend either the Host or a fellow member in war. The Host shall not force any member to rise to defend another, with the charge that to reject would be to commit treason against the Lodge. Exceptions to this is when a Lodge member has had a registered Alliance with another, recognized by the Host. The Host may lobby Lodge members for aid, but is again non-binding. The Lodge On Foreign Relations Members of the Lodge can claim only a priori in-title friendly relations between each another as fellow members. It should however be reminded that the Lodge is an extension of The Philosophy House and is independent of its foreign relations status and alliances. The only formalized and official relation that can be formulated in the Lodge is between the Host and the individual member. Between the members, there is no provision in the Lodge that guarantees inter-member alliances as it is. Member nations will need to establish friendship by their own diplomatic channels for formal relations to occur, for both with other Lodge members and also non-Lodge nation. The Host has no say over foreign relations of its Lodge members, just as it cannot interfere in their practise of sovereignty. However, since a nation cannot declare a second Alliance if The Diplomatic Lodge is already the main affiliation, to properly register the relations status of a Lodge member with another, members are advised to establish their relations with the Host playing the mediator. For relations outside the Lodge, members need not register through the Host. The member of the Lodge at any instant will always retain its total say in its foreign relations with any party. Member nations will not be asked to commit to the Lodge any military or financial tribute or payment (which otherwise would cause it to become a vassal), though at any time, the Host may reserve the right to lobby all the members to help out with another member's troubles. It should be noted that it is done out of favour if so, and the member-in-question must request it, for otherwise the Host will not provide additional aid beyond its current levels, deeming it to be sufficient. The member does reserve the right to lobby for itself both within and outside the Lodge, but to use the diplomatic facilities of the Host in the latter's name would require the Host's own approval, and is to be used only within the Lodge. Entrance Requirements The Lodge is a closed, "unconventional Alliance". There are two classes of membership, the Lodge Resident and the Lodge Guest. Generally, acting as the Host of the Diplomatic Lodge, The Philosophy House retains complete rights to accept members into the Lodge, though sometimes it may seek confirmation from its Lodge Residents. In line with The Philosophy House's official stance on the "advancement of philosophical thought and intellectual enlightenment", final entry as a Lodge Resident requires a nation's government to preferably proclaim a genuine interest to sculpt philosophers out of their population, and thinkers out of their young. New entrants rarely become Lodge Residents upon entrance, but must instead serve probation as Guests. Temporary members who have limited interest in pursuing such goals, or new entrants who are under probation to become Lodge Residents who are approved for membership are mostly put as Lodge Guests. The Lodge is fairly-exclusive to entrance, mainly because of the generous support the Host provides to members without strings attached. To protect the quality of membership, quantity thus needs to be restricted. Membership Classes and Entitlement The Lodge Host (The Philosophy House) occupies a permanent, fixed slot as the administrative, financial and military contact of the Lodge. The Host represents the Lodge in whole when speaking of financial and military aid. For members, there are two classes of membership. The Lodge Residents are members who have allowed the Host to assist them in the capacity of the conventional "Protectorate", though Residents keep their independence and influence without any Host interference. Residents are no different from independent nations, except that they are entitled to receive Lodge support. Residents have also declared their alignment, or "Residence" in the Lodge by stating it via their "Alliance Affilation". Residents are therefore the permanent members of the Lodge who will be protected and supported by The Philosophy House unconditionally. The Lodge Guests are new entrants to the Lodge who usually have a probation period where they remain as Guests, before they are officially invited or allowed to become full Residents. Guest membership is advised for those who wish to lean towards The Philosophy House temporarily or for lack of a better ally, and wish to see how Lodge membership is like. The Host will commit to the Guest the level of financial support it gives too to Residents, but will not guarantee military help as it is - the Guest must request for it from the Host when it is required, and is subject to the Host's approval. Guests are also allowed to not explicitly declare their alignment with the Lodge, and instead declare alignment with another Alliance. Non-Alliance Structure The structure of the Lodge is not one of an Alliance. An Alliance establishes equal and symmetrical diplomatic relations within and outside itself with all of its members, by virtue of their own structural laws and rules. However, the Lodge is a structure that guarantees every member's right to independence to both domestic and foreign issues, without any capacity to cause equal relations and actions between all in the Lodge against another party. The Lodge is therefore not an Alliance. The implication of this is that the Lodge cannot be implicated as a whole for any war-related purposes. Even diplomatically, this is not possible. One cannot wage war with the Lodge technically, but can only do so with its members. The Host of the Lodge will take defensive responsibility for any attack directed at the Lodge, and will render its members non-responsible for the war. The Host will therefore take charge of any issue directed at the entity of The Diplomatic Lodge. Dissolution and Disalignment The Diplomatic Lodge, as an extension of the Foreign Relations Office of The Philosophy House, is an active diplomatic entity for as long as The Philosophy House endures. The Host cannot technically leave the Lodge. To do so would be to firstly dissolve the Lodge, secondly give up its capacity to diplomacy and war, thirdly stop its assertion and guarantee of its sovereignty, and finally to end the nation itself. Hence, the Lodge is active as long as the House is independent. Any Resident or Guest can reserve its right to leave the Lodge at any time. There is no diplomatic penalty for doing so. Leaving would only lower a nation's diplomatic status to the Host from an "Ally" to a "Neutral". The nation loses all its rights as guaranteed previously be the Lodge, and cannot use any of the Lodge's facilities for itself. At any time, the nation-in-question can rejoin the Lodge, but would need to start its entry process all over again - as a new appeal would be subject to approval and probation. Methodology In peacetime, The Diplomatic Lodge encourages deterrence by actively building up the military and pursuing the best of what one's technology may offer. Funding is to come directly from The Lodge Host in the form of direct, regular financial aid. Members of the Lodge, retaining their sovereignty, may declare war as part of their exercise of such. However, the cause of the conflict must be honourable and reasoned, for the Lodge Host to approve of help. Otherwise, wars fought without reason can only result in suffering for the people, with no honour to be said of even in victory, and the Lodge Host will provide no help for the nation for their war effort, or suspend aid, or even expel the member from the Lodge. The Diplomatic Lodge is a gentleman's lodge, believing in diplomacy and honour first, before civilization and war, then barbarianism and hypocrisy. When war first strikes and renders a member nation a defender, the member affected should inform the Lodge Host as soon as possible. While the Host does check for hostilities against the Lodge members regularly, it is advisable for the member to alert the Host at the same time. The attacked member is solely responsible for all peace treaties he or she may sign or offer, for their own wars. The Lodge Host will actively use diplomatic means before military to cease all hostilities. Hence, upon the onset of battle, the Lodge Host will provide financial aid to the member to continue to prop its war efforts. Military aid may be secured, depending on membership class and/or urgency. The member may also use the Lodge's communications channels to appeal for help from other fellow Lodge members, which is however optional. Wars should ideally be won without a fight. The Host will sue the cause for war if it is dishonourable, with both the aggressor and the strongest of his Alliance if applicable, while conservatively supporting the member nation. Otherwise, the aggressor should be warned of the possible path the Host may take - from a conservative aid to the defender, to an offensive attack to the attacker. Tolerance is encouraged in the face of the causal warmonger. If the latter may agree to peace, then no compensation should be asked ideally, and he be let off with a warning, that any future aggression might not be so easily let-off. All Lodge members, though, reserve the right to demand compensation from anyone anytime, and can refuse to sign an early peace if war is a necessity for the demand of such. In this case, though, upon the moment which the tides turn against the enemy, the Lodge Host will not counter-strike the aggressor by means of offense, and the member will receive no more wartime help from the Host. If all fails, and diplomacy as an option is ruled out, then the Lodge Host will be obliged to use any means of deadly force necessary to bring about the final surrender of the aggressor. The aggressor will be attacked until rendered incapable of war, and forced to sign peace finally. The member nation reserves the right to order demilitarization, or reparations from the aggressor, though the Lodge Host will always preach tolerance and forgiveness. The Lodge explicitly bans all dshonourable means of warfare. While espionage is fine, hypocrisy is never. Hypocrisy and dishonour give the casus beli for an offensive war at anytime, for it may be within the gentleman's duty to protect the good-natured weak from the dishonourable oppressive.